"Because the mask is your face, the face is a mask, so I'm thinking of the face as a mask because of the way I see faces is coming from an African vision of the mask which is the thing that we carry around with us, it is our presentation, it's our front, it's our face."Part of the marks in IB Theatre Arts come from a Research project, and our teacher gave us one each to practice, themed either around masks or puppets. (Although they are graded. My bet is he likes to see us suffering.) Anyway, I chose a certain kind of ritual Andean dance/celebration using masks to represent devils; but changed to Korean masks.
—Faith Ringgold
Masks have been used since the beginnings of theater, to show the character rather than to hide the actor. This, combined with the use of puppets, will be used in the school play to represent different points of view; which would let us have two or three different actors and/or puppets representing a specific character.
Adding a little of TOK to the thing...
Read again the quote at the beginning and come back, now. NOW.Done? Welcome back, then. Now, faces are masks. People hide behind them, pretending to be whoever they are. They hide their fears and imperfections alike. They do their best to seem perfect. They become socially acceptable. They become oblivious to everything society declares "not normal"; such as not paying attention to that guy playing the violin at the subway, even if that man is one of the greatest violin players in the world and is playing the most intricate violin pieces in a very, VERY expensive violin. We are told to follow blindly what a handful of people say so they get more money to become even more influential. Our faces become masks, things we carry around with us, our presentation, our front, a farce we put up so we are not rejected by this society. This masks we put up keep us from seeing the damage this heavily-consuming society does to the environment. It keeps us from being happy.
I'd rattle on about how society is bad for inter-human relationships, but time is running out, and I'm getting obfuscated by the memories used to help me write. I'll leave you with a question, though. Are you willing to take your mask off?
Your reflections would have been interesting if they had been supported by analysis of and connections with the different activities carried out in class: the discussions about concept/game/technique/conventions/etc., the analysis of "Vedova in Lumine and "La cocina", the research, and the rehearsals and planning of the School Play. They should have been born out of the activities, but since they didn't, your "reflections" just remain superficial, shallow and useless. Do not skip steps and do your work. Learning is hard work. And it can be fun, too.
ReplyDeleteRoberto